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GOP watch: Common ground vs. compromise?

So what’s the difference between finding “common ground” and “compromise?” On 60 Minutes, incoming Speaker John Boehner refused to use the word, saying it “is a dirty word,” especially among Tea Partiers. Here was the exchange:

Stahl: You’re saying, “I want common ground, but I’m not gonna compromise.” I don’t understand that. I really don’t. Boehner: When you say the word “compromise”…a lot of Americans look up and go, “Uh-oh, they’re gonna sell me out.” And so finding common ground, I think, makes more sense. Stahl reminded him that his goal had been to get all the Bush tax cuts made permanent.Stahl: So you did compromise.Boehner: I’ve, we found common ground.Stahl: Why won’t you say you’re afraid of the word.Boehner: I reject the word.One reason is because half of his new members are Tea Partiers who think compromise is a dirty word – even when it comes to raising the national debt limit, which Boehner has said the new Congress will have to deal with as adults to keep the federal government from defaulting.

“Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele intends to announce his reelection plans on Monday evening, and key supporters expect him to drop out of the hotly contested race, top Republicans tell POLITICO.”